I am heartily, utterly, most sensationally, inspirationally, celebrationally, muppetationally sick of the election. Yeah, I know, there’s a line forming for that one, but you see, I
could do something about it. My absentee ballot came in the mail this week, and while I was watching the debate this morning, it was driven home to me that I could fill it out right now, send it, and be done with the whole thing. I don’t, after all, expect to change my mind between now and the third week of October, either about the President or about the PA senate seat.

Regarding the latter, I’ve managed to register, after weeks of responsible-citizen searching, nothing about Joseph Hoeffel except that he’s not a Republican. (Don’t bother crying, “Neither is Arlen Specter!” That line’s been around since I was in junior high. My preference is for strong principled-ness, too; but there’s a reason Pennsylvania is considered a swing state. Specter and Santorum represent 12 million-odd people among whom arch-liberals, arch-conservatives, and all shades on the spectrum in between are found in significant numbers. That Specter sees himself in the role of compromise-striking operator does not seem to me to be out of line with representing his constituency. Hoeffel might fill the same role, but he’d have two decades’ less worth of Rolodex-building to do it with.)

The debate left me with the reassuring feeling–for the first time in months–that there actually were two serious candidates for President. Kerry sounded thoughtful and grounded. But I still don’t see how voting him in is supposed to improve things. As I say, I don’t expect to change my mind about a single tick-box in the next three weeks.

I think I’ll just suffer to the bitter end (or as close to the bitter end as I can get while still having my ballot in by the Friday before Election Day) with everyone else, even so. Living on the opposite side of the Pacific, I cherish every opportunity to feel that I’m experiencing something with my fellow American voters in real time, for one thing.

For another, I haven’t even begun to look into the fascinating candidates for Auditor General.

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Well, one of the reasons I was up early to watch it is that I was taking medication that was giving me side-effects. I don’t know that my impressions were what they would have been if I hadn’t been feeling a bit dehydrated. But overall, I think what most other level-headed people seem to have thought. Neither side disgraced itself. Genuine policy points were brought up, but only those who’d already been following the campaigns would have understood what was behind them. Partisans on each side can claim victory, and those tuning attentively in to the race for the first time probably had their existing impressions validated, somehow.
I think the debate was of mostly ceremonial importance, but I don’t underestimate the significance of ceremony. It did what it needed to do, in making Bush and Kerry both seem serious and engaged.

Visit Hoeffel’s website — http://www.hoeffelforsenate.com
— he’s much more than just being Not Arlen, and Arlen hasn’t been that “compromise-striking operator” for quite some time, having voted 89% of the time for the Bush/Cheney agenda.

At least Toomey didn’t win the Republican nomination–you would’ve really had a stroke then, huh?
I have looked at Hoeffel’s campaign site, but thanks for the link. One thing to bear in mind: The RNC platform last month took a pretty hard right turn, but before that, Bush was considered pretty moderate. The hard right of the party didn’t like him for that very reason. I’m not telling you you should start agreeing with policies you don’t agree with, only that if the issue is compromising or centrism, I don’t think voting in line with the administration has necessarily worked against that.